Occupiers in Crimea open two more adminitstrative law cases against human rights activist Cepparov
In the occupied Crimea, the Russian Center for Countering Extremism opened two more administrative law cases against the Crimean Tatar human rights activist Abdureşit Cepparov: for "discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" (under Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and "abusing the freedom of mass information" (under Part 2 of Article 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), reports "Crimean Solidarity".
According to the CCE operative and police lieutenant Roman Filatov, who drew up the cases, Cepparov ran the page of the public movement Qirim Gayesi ("Crimean Idea") on the social network "Facebook" and spread "deliberately untrue socially significant information framed as reliable news" on it. In addition, according to the operative, the Crimean Tatar activist "expressed his disagreement with the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation relating to the special military operation in Ukraine."
The posts in question are about the April 2023 events in Feodosia and the transfer of Ukrainian citizens, including children, to Crimea.
"However, there are no grounds to say Cepparov's actions constitute a criminal offence," Filatov concluded.
The human rights activist himself has admitted that he co-founded the public movement, but says he has nothing to do with the posts on the social media page.
"Their logic is as follows: if I'm the founder, then I'm the administrator. Even as I was under arrest, the page was updating. This proves that I have no relation to running the page whatsoever," the human rights activist claims.
Abdureşit Cepparov was handed a court summons after 12 days of administrative arrest in the previous administrative case. On June 13 and July 14, 2023, the Kyiv District Court of Simferopol will consider the new administrative cases.
According to a "Krym.Realii" report for Radio Liberty, Russian security forces have already searched the activist's house on March 16, 2023. At that time, no lawyer was allowed to see Cepparov. After the search, the Russian security forces took the man to the local police department. Later, the Russian-controlled Biloghirsk District Court arrested him for 15 days, accusing him of "promoting Nazi paraphernalia or symbols" on social media. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the representative office of the President of Ukraine in Crimea called for Abdureşit Cepparov's release. On March 31, he was released after 15 days of administrative arrest.
On April 26, 2023, the occupiers' Bilohirsky District Court in Crimea unlawfully arrested the previously detained Crimean Tatar human rights activist Abdureşit Cepparov for 12 days for "disobeying the police." A day earlier, on April 25, the occupiers had searched the human rights activist's house.
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